**7. Thermal properties**

Agunsoye and Aigbodion [14] compared the mechanical properties of the uncarbonized and carbonized bagasse. The hardness was found to increase with an increase in fiber content due to the brittleness of bagasse particles; however the higher values for carbonized particles were associated with their larger surface area (**Figure 2a**). Similar observations were reported for tensile modulus due to the introduction of stiffer bagasse as compared to the polymeric matrix (**Figure 2b**). They observed an increase in tensile strength up to 30 wt% which was attributed to good distribution and dispersion resulting in strong interaction (**Figure 2c**). Above 30 wt%, the decrease was attributed to the physical interaction and immobilization of the polymer matrix by the presence of mechanical restraints. In addition, the decrease in interfacial area with an increase in particles content contributed to reducing the strength. On the other hand the impact strength results showed that the incorporation of these particles reduced the ability of the matrix to absorb energy and thereby reducing toughness. The ability to resist the

**Figure 2.** Variation of (a) hardness, (b) tensile modulus, (c) tensile strength, and (d) impact energy with wt% bagasse

**(a) (b)** 

**(c) (d)** 

particles [14].

234 Sugarcane - Technology and Research

There are two widely used techniques to study the thermal behavior of the natural fiber composites *viz.* thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The TGA is usually used to evaluate both the thermal stability as well as the percentage of the fibers in the composites. The thermal stability of the SB-based fillers were studied by several authors to evaluate the effect of the extraction processes and surface modification [15, 16, 52]. The degradation steps of the fillers give an idea of the resulting product after extraction process. Similarly, the endotherms from DSC often shows the steps involves during heating process such as evaporation of water or moisture below 100°C.

Surface modification of the fibers can also change their thermal degradation behavior [32]. In the case of furfural as surface modification, it interacts mainly with lignin components (i.e., phenolic syringyl and guaiacyl) which alter the thermal degradation behavior of the fibers especially the step associated with lignin [32]. The alkali treatment improve the thermal stability of the fibers due to the removal of thermally unstable constituents of the fibers (i.e., hemicellulose, and wax). On the other hand the acid hydrolysis during the extraction of cellulose fibers (MFC) or cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) introduces some thermally labile groups on the surface of the fibers which results in reduction of thermal stability. In addition these harsh conditions may reduce the crystallinity and molecular weight of the cellulose which also contribute to the reduction of thermal stability.

[3] Teixeira SR, de Souza AE, Peña AFV, de Lima RG, Muguel AG. Use of charcoal and partially pirolysed biomaterial in fly ash to produce briquettes: Sugarcane bagasse. Alternative Fuel. 2011;9. DOI: 10.5772/20505. ISBN 978-953-307-372-9. http://creativecommons.org/

[4] Rahimi Kord Sofla M, Brown RJ, Tsuzuki T, Rainey TJ. A comparison of cellulose nanocrystals and cellulose nanofibres extracted from bagasse using acid and ball milling methods. Advances in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. 2016;**7** [5] Pereira A, Martins GF, Antunes PA, Conrrado R, Pasquini D, Job AE, Curvelo AAS, Ferreira M, Riul A Jr, Constantino JL. Lignin from sugar cane bagasse: Extraction, fabrication of nanostructured films, and application. Langmuir. 2007;**23**(12):6652-6659. DOI:

cane bagasse ash. In: 1st Spanish National Conference. Advances in Materials Recycling

[7] de Paula MO, Tinôco IFF, de Rodrigues S, da Silva CEN, de Souza CF. Potential of sugarcane bagasse ash as a partial replacement material for Portland cement. Revista Brasileira de Engenharia Agrícola e Ambiental. 2009;**13**(3):353-357. DOI: 10.1590/S1415-43662009

[8] Hofsetz K, Silva MA. Brazilian sugarcane bagasse: Energy and non-energy consumption. Biomass and Bioenergy. 2012;**46**:564-573. Doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2012.06.038 [9] García CA, Manzini F. Environmental and economic feasibility of sugarcane ethanol for the Mexican transport sector. Solar Energy. 2012;**86**(4):1063-1069. Doi.org/10.1016/j.

[10] Ferraro DO, Rivero DE, Ghersa GM. An analysis of the factors that influence sugarcane yield in Northern Argentina using classification and regression trees. Field Crops

[11] Wirawan R, Sapuan SM, Robiah Y, Khalina A.Flexural properties of sugarcane bagasse pith and rind reinforced poly (vinyl chloride). IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. 2010;**11**:1-4. IOP Publishing. iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/11/1/012011/

[12] Motaung T, Anandjiwala R. Effect of alkali and acid treatment on thermal degradation kinetics of sugar cane bagasse. Industrial Crops and Products. 2015;**74**:472-477. Doi.org/

[13] de Barros RdRO, de Sousa Paredes R, Endo T, da Silva Bon EP, Lee S-H. Association of wet disk milling and ozonolysis as pretreatment for enzymatic saccharification of sugarcane bagasse and straw. Bioresource Technology. 2013;**136**:288-294. Doi.org/10.1016/j.

[14] Agunsoye J, Aigbodion V. Bagasse filled recycled polyethylene bio-composites: Morphological and mechanical properties study. Results in Physics. 2013;**3**:187-194. Doi.org/

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